KICK OFF MEETING IN
LA POBLA LLARGA (SPAIN) 

MINUTES
Kick off Meeting in la Pobla Llarga
28/02/2023 – 3/03/2023

WP1: Initial meeting: NEETs and involvement in European policies.

PARTNER ORGANISATIONS ATTENDING THE MEETING:
- Municipality of La Pobla Llarga (Spain) 
- Youth Center Velenje, Culture and Education (Slovenia)
- Local Government of Town Újszilvás (Hungary)
- Fundacja Autokreacja (Poland)
- European Institute for Diplomacy and Policy  (Netherlands)
- Jean Monnet (France)
- Bulgarian Youth Association
- CARDET (Cyprus).

OBJECTIVES:
- Enhance of the understanding of the project's results, work procedures and results to achieve.
- Strengthen the abilities about youth participation in EU policies and NEET phenomena.
- Local citizens participation by way of interactive action and the gathering of the first information about communication tolos

I) DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITIES TAKEN PLACE

28/02/2023
Arrival of Participants from each partner delegation.Wellcome from City Councelors, teambuilding activities and welcoming dinner in Xativa. 

1/03/2023
The participants came to the Casa de la Joventut de la Pobla Llarga. First of all the mayoress of the town, Neus Garrigues, officially welcomed the participants of the kick-off meeting in the framework of the European project YO-WO. After her, Mr. Andreu Garrido, presented the project and welcomed all participants, he also presented the project and the objectives to be achieved with the implementation of the project, both at provincial and international level. Youth and Gender Equality for the Welfare of Europe is a fundamental mission for the city of La Pobla Llarga and all its departments, it is the future for which we must fight.

Afterwards, a presentation was made by all the partners of the programme about their organisation, municipality, general and specific objectives that they intend to achieve in this project. 

Then, several presentations were made within the theme of the project. 

Firstly, the Empoblar project was presented by Inma from Pobla Llarga, which is a project to promote and support youth entrepreneurship subsidised by the Pobla Llarga town council. It is a perfect example of good practices where the participants could see what kind of youth policies are developed in the municipality. In addition to supporting local citizen participation through interactive action and the collection of the first information on all media. 

Secondly, there was a presentation on EU history, Jean Monnet, Youth and European Values carried out by Miguel Ángel Martín Ramos, Vice-president of the Jean Monnet Association, in collaboration with the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundatin, a very important association at European level, which is part of this project, and with headquarters in the House of Jean Monnet in Bazoches-sur-Guyonne, France.

Thirdly, we visited an example of good practice in the town, visiting the artisan chocolate shop Mario Padial, a benchmark in the world of confectionery and a perfect example that from a town like La Pobla Llarga you can also develop a business idea at international level.

Furthly, in the afternoon, a visit was made to a very important industrial orange juice and orange production company in the area, which works both exporting and importing this product at national and international level. 

This is a very important company for the economy of the municipality, which has 500 workers in the plant and a high production during the year. It was a unique opportunity to visit the plant and all its levels. 

Later there was a tour of the town to explain and learn about the history of La Pobla Llarga and the day ended with a cultural concert by the local municipal band and ended the day with a multicultural dinner.

2/03/2023
The second day of activity started with a Municipality Lab presented by Carla Serena, presenting a project on entrepreneurship and care for women in the municipality of La Pobla Llarga. This project aims to create a network of psychological and social support for women in the area in support of gender violence and equality. Afterwards the team moved to the city of Valencia to see the Fallas festival, the great economic impulse of the Valencian Community, and in this way get an idea of how the economy of the area can be boosted.


II) PROJECT COORDINATION

The coordination session took place, where the main characteristics of the YO-WO project, the different products that will be developed in the different periods of the project, the work  packages, the project model, the project objectives, the work packages, the funding model and the communication plan were explained.

Partners debated about the project calendar of Wps, and they confirmed the following dates:

WP1 Municipality of La Pobla Llarga (Spain) – 28/02/2023 until 3/03/2023
WP2 Youth Center Velenje, Culture and Education (Slovenia) – 18/04/2023 until 21/04/2023
WP3 Local Government of Town Újszilvás (Hungary) – 11/09/2023 until 14/09/2023
WP4 Fundacja Autokreacja (Poland)
WP5 Hellenic Institute of Cultural Diplomacy Netherlands(Netherlands)
WP6 Jean Monnet (France) 
WP7 Bulgarian Youth Association
WP8 CARDET (Cyprus).

The calendar had some changes in relation to the grant agreement after discussion between the partners about their availability to organise their international events (WP). All these dates were agreed by the participants of the meeting.

The partners discussed about the doubts in the internal cooperation agreement signed by all partners with the Lead Partner. All partners brought original copies of the document and signed by the Mayor of la Pobla Llarga. After this, the municipality of la Pobla Llarga will proceed with the first payment of the pre-financing of the project. Other issues that were discussed were: number of participants per meeting, responsibilities among partners, etc.

All partners agreed on their tasks at local level, involving local volunteers and creating a working group of volunteers who will participate in the implementation of the project at local level. All partners should work on it and report on their progress during the next event.


III) COMMUNICATION PLAN
- Internal Communication
- It was agreed among all partner organisations that informal communications will be foreseen through the WhatsApp group to share potos/videos or exchange words in an informal way among the rest of the partners.
- It was agreed among all partner organisations that formal communications will be done through email exchanges, where partners will be informed about the following events, products or deliverables, material sent by partners (Agenda, Infopack) and any other kind of information relevant to the YO-WO proposal. For this purpose, the YO-WO project will have a contact list that will be updated by each project partner.
- The partners agreed that a google drive folder will be created to share relevant information of the project.
- The local school created 7 logos for the project, which were then presented to the partners and chose the following logo to represent the project.

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YOWO – SLOVENIA
2nd Meeting

YOWO – SLOVENIA
2nd meeting: Velenje, 19. – 20. 4. 2023

WP1: Initial meeting: NEETs and involvement in European policies. 

PARTNER ORGANISATIONS ATTENDING THE MEETING:
- Municipality of La Pobla Llarga (Spain) 
- Youth Center Velenje, Culture and Education (Slovenia)
- Local Government of Town Újszilvás (Hungary)
- Fundacja Autokreacja (Poland)
- European Institute for Diplomacy and Policy  (Netherlands)
- Jean Monnet (France)
- Bulgarian Youth Association
- CARDET (Cyprus).

OBJECTIVES:
Enhance the knowledge about European programs, strategies and policies focused on the youth. - Young citizens development: further appreciation of the advantages of being part of the EU. 

Main activities:
- Dialogues with local experts on the topic "What Opportunities does the EU offer?" about Erasmus+  projects, the SVE, Youth Exchanges, among others. 
- Debates with local students about European opportunities where youngsters will discover the  importance of participating in EU policies. 
- Every partner will explore how to implement these strategies in his own municipality lab. 
- Street Actions: "Local Europe" where participants will make interviews to local citizens about EU  youth policie

I) DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITIES TAKEN PLACE

19/04/2023 
Participants arrived in Velenje, in the hotel Razgoršek, where we had a welcome dinner. 

20/04/2023 
On Wednesday we start a day in Youth center Velenje, where we prepared presentation of our  programs, activies and EU projects (konS, European Solidarity Corps and Erasmus+ Youth Exchanges.  EU for citizens). After that we visited our other infrastracture and met our employee in multimedia  center Kunigunda, in new Pekarna in Old town, project konS office. We shared experiences and good  practices on youth projects.

Then we visited Municipality Velenje, where we had dialogues with local experts. First our deputy  mayor, Aleksandra Vasiljević, greet our delegates, then we met the leader of the Office for Economic  Development and Restructuring, Helena knez, she prepared presentation about important EU  projects and leader of the Office of Social Affairs, Marko Pritržnik, he prepered presentation of the  city and his future challanges. 

After that we went in Youth cultural club eMCe plac, unique product of close cooperation between  the Youth Center Velenje and Student Club. The greatest added value of the club is to maintain  principle: Youth for youth. Young people actively participate in program proposals in all areas,  participate in the organization and implementation of events and activities, and have the opportunity  to co-create a program that interests them and gain  knowledge and experience in this field.

Next action was a Street Actions: "Local Europe" where delegates gathers in groups and went around  the city to make short video interviews with local citizens about EU youth policies. They asked them  various questions, for example: As a citizen of EU, what are the topics that worries you the most right  now? What actions, politics or benefits should EU bring to the table to stay united? What are the  beneficts for Youngsters?

We ended first day with the dinner at little touristic farm Apat with good local food, we also invited  two student, one, Yehor, from Ukraine and second, Uroš, from Serbia, to share the stories and their  view of what EU can offer to youngsters. 

21/04/2023
Second day we started with Workshop in Vila Bianca. It was moderated by journalist and longtime  external colleague from Youth center Velenje, Tina Felicijan. Partners were in groups and together exploring how to implement strategies, that we presented so  far, in their own municipality lab.

Then we went in Old town Velenje, where colleagues from the Municipality of Velenje, Vanesa and  Domen, who are working on this project, presented Revitalization of the degraded urban part of the  city that was financed by European Union. This is our good practice, that our town is really proud of.  We took participants to family business Šili testenine, they are making delicious homemade pasta. Then we went to barber shop, creative center Čuk, in The Museum - House of Minerals, and our last  stop was Pekarna, where we saw the edited movie about yesterdays Street actions.

We organized sightseeing tour of the city and lakes with an accredited tourist guide.  We went to Vista, on the redevelopment area, which is located in a degraded urban area, which was  created as a result of mining activity. The project was co-financed by the European Union from the  European Fund for Regional Development. 

We organized free entry at Castle Velenje for everybody. 

After that we had a farewell dinner.


II) PROJECT COORDINATION 
Coordinators had a short meetingon Wednesday and decided that we should all meet online after  the Slovenian meeting to debate about our next one in Poland. 

For communitaion during event in Slovenia we used WhatsApp group, where we share informations,  locations for lunch and dinner, photos and videos.

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